Your credibility affects mine

29 May 2026

Sia Papageorgiou:

If we want to be treated like a serious profession, we need to start acting like one.

When one communication professional underperforms at a strategic level, it doesn’t reflect only on them, it reflects on all of us.

Business leaders don’t separate the individual from the discipline, they generalise.

When a communication professional gives reactive advice in a crisis because they don’t understand governance, risk or stakeholder dynamics, executives don’t think, “That person lacks training.” They think, “Communication doesn’t operate at this level.”

When communication professionals spend all their time talking about channels and content instead of business outcomes, people stop seeing the strategic value we bring. And when we don’t hold ourselves to high ethical standards, trust suffers.

Your credibility affects mine. And mine affects yours.

We often talk about elevating our profession. About having a seat at the table. About being strategic advisers rather than tactical executors.

Elevation doesn’t happen through wishful thinking though; it happens through standards.

In 2023, I conducted global research into perceptions of communication credentials, which heard from more than 350 communication professionals across 28 countries.

• Sixty-eight percent said it is important for communication professionals to be credentialed.
• And yet, the majority of those who participated did not hold a recognised, globally benchmarked communication credential. 
• Almost half believed the status of credentialed communication professionals has not changed in the last decade when compared with credentialed professionals in other disciplines.
• Only 24% believed credentialed communication professionals are equally respected alongside credentialed professionals in other professions.

We believe credentials matter. We believe respect matters. But collectively, we’re not modelling what we say we value.

Other management disciplines recognised long ago that professional legitimacy requires visible, externally validated standards. In finance, law, engineering, medicine and project management, formal credentials signal competence and accountability. While they don’t guarantee brilliance, they do provide assurance.

They say: this individual has met a recognised benchmark.

In communication, we often rely solely on experience as proof of capability. Experience is critical of course, but experience without a benchmark is difficult for business leaders to interpret. Especially in volatile environments where the cost of poor decisions is high.

And volatility is not theoretical.

In a recent global study by Weber Shandwick, only 17% of executives said their communication and public affairs functions are well equipped to navigate today’s volatility.

If that statistic doesn’t scare the hell out of us, it should.

If we want executives to trust our advice in moments of crisis, transformation and uncertainty, we must demonstrate that we hold ourselves to defined standards.

Not occasionally but consistently.

That means looking beyond informal recognition and considering which certification frameworks are taken seriously outside our own professional circles.

There are a number of respected credentials in our field. The APR in the United States. Chartered status through the CIPR in the UK. Regional and national accreditations around the world. Each plays an important role in strengthening professional practice and raising standards within its community.

This is not a question of geography or association preference. It is a question of certification structure and external accreditation. If we are advocating for a global benchmark — one that is recognised across borders and industries — then independent accreditation to internationally recognised standards is critical.

The Global Communication Certification Council’s CMP and SCMP credentials are accredited through the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), which confirms compliance with ISO standards for personnel certification programs. That means the certification process itself is independently assessed against internationally recognised criteria for fairness, rigour and governance.

That distinction is significant.

If we’re serious about positioning communication as a management discipline alongside finance, legal, engineering or project management, then the standards we adopt must be comparable in rigour.

Certification at this level demonstrates that a communication professional has been assessed against a global competency framework covering governance, ethics, research, strategy, stakeholder engagement and measurement. It signals breadth, depth and accountability in a way that business leaders recognise.

In my 2023 research, 65% of those certified reported improved personal branding and 57% reported increased respect and recognition from peers following certification.

Eighteen percent reported receiving a pay rise, and others indicated increased job offers, promotions and approaches from recruiters. 

Those outcomes matter. Career progression, financial reward and market visibility are tangible indicators that credentials have recognised value.

Among those who were eligible to renew at the time of the survey, 75% said they renew their certification annually. Renewal requires continued professional development. It reinforces that standards evolve and that competence must be maintained.

But this conversation cannot stop at individual gain. Yes, certification can strengthen your profile, your earning potential and your market value. The real issue however, is collective reputation.

Right now, the visible norm in our profession is that credentialing is optional, something only a minority pursue. That is the signal we send to the market.

Imagine if the norm were different. 

Imagine if it were widely expected that serious communication professionals pursue certification at appropriate stages in their career. Imagine if boards began to assume that senior communication leaders would hold externally validated credentials, in the same way they assume this of other management disciplines.

The perception they have now would change. Confidence in the communication function would increase and the discipline would strengthen.

If we continue to resist formal benchmarks while asking for strategic authority, we undermine our own argument. 

Your credibility affects mine.

Every time one of us invests in recognised professional standards, it lifts the standing of the profession.

Every time one of us dismisses standards as unnecessary, it chips away at that standing.

Communication influences organisational decisions, stakeholder behaviour and public trust. 

It carries consequence and with consequence comes accountability.

If we want executives to see us as equipped to navigate volatility, as advisers who understand risk and governance, as leaders who can interpret complexity, we have to show that we take our discipline seriously enough to benchmark ourselves against global standards.

And ultimately, respect is not granted because we ask for it. It’s earned because we model it. And modelling it starts with us.

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Sia Papageorgiou is the Co-Founder of the Centre for Strategic Communication Excellence and is an IABC Fellow.